Applications are invited for a PhD studentship in Computer Science, jointly funded by Swansea University and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Project Supervisors:

Supervisor 1 – Dr Deepak Sahoo (Computer Science, College of Science)

Supervisor 2 – Professor David Worsley (College of Engineering)

Supervisor 3 – Professor Matt Jones (Computer Science, College of Science)

Project description:

Touch screens are ubiquitous. Everyone has one within their reach or at their fingertips. The sense of agency or control can be high using a touch screen with a simple tap or swipe gesture. But the experience of using it is not as rich as using many different real objects. For example, turning pages of a photo album or a book does not feel the same, in spite of the audio and visual effects. We need the tactile experience and 3D visual effects that can feel and look realistic.

This project will explore novel ideas to achieve this with implementation of dynamic touch screens and evaluation of user experience. Research in flexible electronic circuits has led to technologies that will make deformable touch screens a reality in the near future. However, this research has not considered how to build devices that can provide enhanced visual and tactile experience. This PhD project will explore ideas that can be integrated with flexible touch screens. The work will involve interaction design, user studies and hardware and software prototyping.

One approach will be to use transparent electroactive polymers, elastomeric hydrogels or shape memory polymers to create a dynamic touch screen cover. It can be deformed using electricity to selectively bend and wrinkle the touch surface to provide shape and texture. The polymer surface can be coated with nano-particles or tubes to make electronic circuits and pixel domains to enhance the tactile and visual effects. For example, each pixel can be embedded with nano-particles and the scattering, diffraction and interference controlled with elastomers to create a hologram with both tactile and visual information. The usability of such a technology will be evaluated by conducting user studies which can be developed in parallel with the real implementation by “faking” the intended technology using simple prototypes.

The work is novel and adventurous, being in line with some of the key challenges for Human Computer Interaction identified in an EPSRC review – www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/pubs/report-of-the-epsrc-review-of-human-computer-interaction-research-in-the-uk

The student will join and enhance a rich research environment in Swansea, Grenoble and Sussex. This team of computer scientists, engineers, nano-physicists, bio scientists and designers have recently been awarded an EPSRC grant that begins in June 2016. That grant will look more broadly at deformable displays.

The successful candidate will be expected to commence their studentship on 1 October 2016 or January 2017 at the latest.

Academic Requirements:

Candidates must have a first, upper second-class honours or a Master’s degree (with Merit), in a relevant discipline.

Residency Criteria:

Due to funding restrictions, this studentship is open to UK/EU candidates only.

Funding Details

The studentship covers the full cost of UK/EU tuition fees, plus a tax free stipend of £14,296 p.a.